Nor for a lot of unemployed people in this country. We need jobs, not tax cuts. Don't tell me tax cuts lead to jobs because everyone knows they don't. And WTF is this IRA thing but YET ANOTHER gubmint giveaway to Wall Street.

China and India have 8 times the labor force we have andthey work for 1/8th of our wages.

In the last decade their manufacturing capacity has taken a giant leap upwards with no EPA type regulations andrestrictions. You can't even breathe in some of their industrialcities, but they can make cheap goods. India can even provide cheap services since most people speak English there. They nowprovide legal research, physician services, accounting services etc.

If its jobs they want to create then we need to dismantle the conservative economic policies that got us to this point in time aka NAFTA etc. We need to enforce the Smoot-Hawley act immediately if not sooner too.

I have no real income because because I'm trying to get on disability. I have plenty of bills which I'm keeping up with through the death benefits from my wife who passed away last summer. I have medical problems for which at least I have coverage through the VA.

Childcare is fucking KILLING us; and the IRA thing would be great, too. But yeah--is there some rule that you can't help middle class families AND the unemployed? It's easy to create jobs: half the damn country's falling apart, the other half could use a coat of paint at the very least. You fix stuff, you put people to work, they pay taxes and buy stuff, the economy gets moving again, private sector jobs return. Google FDR, for chrissakes.

It's actually a great opportunity to fix stuff--build schools, replace bridges, do the infrastructure projects we've been deferring for a generation now. But if you're a wingnut, that's all dangerous socialism--until you're the governor of Minnesota and a major highway bridge collapses, that is.

23. Childcare is ridiculous. I worked in childcare. They owners pay the workers little

Edited on Mon Jan-25-10 12:16 PM by Jennicut

and pocket the rest. These are the people who take care of your children every day...and get paid practically nothing to do it. I am going to be a pre school teacher soon, after I finish my student teaching. I will get paid little for that too, but at least I love children so it is worth being happy in a job.

We get top-flight people that way--mostly nice Lutheran college girls majoring in elementary ed. They tidy up, do dishes, fold laundry, etc. when our daughter's napping. It's hella expensive, but the U where we both work doesn't offer any childcare for kids under 2, and we couldn't both do our jobs without it (and we can't live on just one of our crappy salaries). Basically our thinking is that we value our kids, so we try to pay as well as we can to get the best people--and we pay direct to the sitter, not to some scammer running a daycare. So far, so good--except, you know, we're broke.

Gee, how could the federal government matching IRA contributions possibly be a giveaway to Wall Street? I'm sure if you concentrate really hard it will come to you. Not to mention a subsidy to shitty employers.

And if other people are helped, they have more to spend and that helps create jobs. It doesn't have to be me personally who is helped.

I don't subscribe to trickle down hooha about tax cuts no matter who is spouting it.

It is not tax cuts for the rich! It won't help me but I'm not going to complain!

If you have an IRA you have savings for retirement! You get to take the money back out after retirement age. It is wise to have these to supplement Social security. What can be wrong with them? If you just put your retirement savings in a savings account, all you will get is interest, which is pretty low, and that is why people don't do that.

I'll never understand you all who hate Wall Street so much that you'd rather see people be poor. 1929 was a stock market crash, that meant a Depression. You'd have been jumping for joy because Wall Street crashed. It does not in fact make it better for the little guy for Wall Street to do poorly. This is dumb.

Things like food stamps and unemployment benefits iirc, return 1.40 for every 1.00 spent. These two are the heavy hitters in economy stimulating. Tax cuts don't give us the return we need. Doesn't matter who they are for.

Because giving everyday people a chunk of money back to pay for childcare costs, or helping them pay for taking care of their elderly parents or helping them lower student loan repayment is definately the kind of middle class relief ideas that the administration should have been pushing for all ready. To say that is "nothing" is disingenius, out of touch bullshit and shows that you are another naysayer for the sake of being a naysayer with an opinion completely lacking in credibility.

enough money to pay taxes, for this tax credit to put "money in your pocket".

These sort of proposals are, for me at least, just a variation on the classic trickle down model of giving tax breaks to the wealthy with the idea that they will "trickle down" to the rest of us.

The Obama administration needs to come up with programs that directly create jobs, not this sort of dancing around the edges. They have consistantly underestimated how bad off our economy is, and this seems more of the same.

Child care credits max out for those making over a certain amount.It is not a credit that helps the wealthy. Sorry.It is a credit for those who pay a lot of child care vis-a-vis the rate of their earnings.

Now you can argue that lower income people are more likely to spend theirs right away but even then, tax cuts aren't as stimulative as direct assistance like food stamps or unemployment.

This child care tax credit is nonrefundable so not too many people are really going to benefit from it and most of the ones who do will be closer to the $85K threshold. That means the money saved is more likely to go to paying off debts or saving than directly into the economy.

It's not trickle down. You're now going off on another tangent where you don't agree with the proposed programs. I think the issue is that we've focused already on expanding unemployment benefits and there's only so much political willpower in regards to these social programs. Concentrating on the middle class seems smart politically, plus most of us could certainly use the help just as much as the unemployed.

tax breaks to the wealthy which then "trickle down" to the rest of us ... the new model seems to be giving tax breaks to the employed middle class (those with children, anyway) so that it trickles down to the poor (who don't make enough to even pay taxes) and jobless.

It is still seeding the economy through tax breaks rather than directly employing people, and, afaic, it's the same model.

60. Wow. You really don't know what "trickle down" even means. How embarassing.

I'll give you a hint though. Tax breaks for middle class people, regardless of how effective one feels they might be, have NOTHING to do with trickle down economic. Next time, try looking up what trickle down means before you start commenting on it, it will save you some embarassment later on.

It's not about YOU, individually, it's about the American middle class collectively, most of whom DO have children.

You sound like the seniors who were angry about the suggestion that people might get to buy into Medicare because they thought it might unfairly impact them. Or the reports (possibly erroneous?) about Mass voters voting against Coakley because of health care -- they already have it and don't want to have to pay more so everyone else can have what they have. Selfish much?

It's a Clinton-esque gesture toward what they consider a very important voting bloc. But the thing is, this tax credit is non-refundable, which means the people who could use help the most will not be getting any.

No 401k- kids are to old for childcare. People need jobs, people need job security. Incredibly tired of administration's, Dem or Rep, "trickle down" thinking. At some point, if they continue to behave like they believe the billionaires are going to "do the right thing", then I have to say either they are stupid or they are liars.

67. This is for the annual budget, not for a jobs bill. And you have no clue what trickle down means...

...if you think direct middle class tax breaks are trickle down thinking. Its the exact opposite of trickle down thinking. Its relief at the lower end of the scale, not the higher end of the scale. You should be embarassed as you basically just accused the middle class and the top 2% as being one and the same.

Until those two things are addressed, I don't think any of these small things will do JACK SHIT to change things. They are a distraction. Now perhaps we could have a conversation without you insulting me. Perhaps I might learn something new from you instead of having the "go fuck yourself" reaction your choice of words in the last sentence is sure to bring about.

68. Wow, you just suggested Republicans would give tax breaks to ordinary families...

...for things like childcare, student loans and caring for elderly parents. Someone must still be buying into the George Bush compassionate conservative bullshit. I think you need to re-evaluate the way Republicans have been doing business, you obviously are confused.

for being selfish and short-sighted just keep in mind there are PLENTY of angry people out there who feel the same way...and they vote.Dumping billions into the financial sector while they're losing their jobs and then proposing tax credits when they still have no jobs doesn't help them in the slightest.

If you have no income, or a tiny income, tax savings are kind of moot.

How about this......Revoke NAFTA and slap taxes on companies that outsource jobs and bring in cheap imports. Until that happens, it's just a race to the bottom and tax cuts aren't going to help one iota. What an insult to the American people. I've really just about had it with the Dems. They're almost as bad as the Republicans.

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